Restoration of P-13 Pickup in 1949 Harmony Lapsteel

Fixing up this old Harmony-made lap steel for a friend. Never seen one quite like this: Poplar body with oak veneer. The fingerboard is just dyed darker! I dig the random brown sunburst on edge of headstock and on body curves. When we got it, there was a weak signal, barely any sound coming through. I expect as much from old instruments found in the wild, and usually it’s a broken solder connection somewhere. Let’s open her up.

OK. Wasn’t expecting this. Nice amateur rewire using….lamp cord? Yep.

Whatever reason this was done, the results were that they fried one of the wire wraps on the pickup. The contact got too hot and poof…poop. I don’t do pickup rewinds, but my friend Andrew McCracken in Portland does. Plug plug…

So I sent it to him to rewind this cool P-13 pickup. Date codes on pots date to 1949, and these old P-13s just sound like warm honey. Worth it.

Nice work! After putting it back together, the lap steel sings again. Tuned to C6, you can feel the Hawaiian breeze blowing through your hair as you play. This beauty is for sale, for $375.00, and you will adore it! I kinda wish I had time to learn slide…